English

The Language Arts Curriculum is designed to inspire appreciation for the power, utility, and beauty of language and literature as well as lifelong enthusiasm for reading and writing. Literacy skill development involves active listening, reflective practices, and critical thinking. The study of language and literature stimulates imagination and encourages students to acquire knowledge, explore diverse perspectives, and expand experiences. Language arts competencies are integral to all disciplines and are essential to future academic endeavors, in the workforce, and in a complex global society.

We further believe that:

Students develop an appreciation and enjoyment of language arts through a balanced literacy program that combines fiction and nonfiction reading, writing, listening, and oral language experiences.

Skilled readers use an active, cognitive process of making meaning from print.

Students construct knowledge by recalling information from experiences, gathering information from a variety of sources and genres, and through meaningful discourse.

Students activate their thinking and engage in analysis by making connections between prior knowledge and new language experiences.

Extensive reading is critical to the development of reading proficiency, and students must read independently to build stamina.

Effective teaching of reading incorporates a combination of whole class and small group instruction at each student's appropriate level and is taught as a process that includes relevant literacy experiences before, during, and after reading.

Effective teaching includes planned opportunities for reflective and transactional discussions about a variety of media with peers and teachers in order to deepen understanding.

Effective written communication demands an awareness of purpose and audience and the flexibility to adapt style and voice to particular writing tasks.

Analyzing author's craft will engage students in the thinking necessary to become skilled writers.

Effective teaching of writing includes an emphasis on the writer’s craft, the use of high-quality writing exemplars, time for classroom writing practice, and thoughtful reflection before, during, and after writing.

Goals for Language Arts

As a result of this K-12 Language Arts Curriculum students will:

1. Select and apply strategies to facilitate word recognition and develop vocabulary in order to comprehend text.

2. Use appropriate strategies before, during, and after reading in order to construct meaning.

3. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate text in order to extend understanding and appreciation.

4. Communicate with others to create interpretations of written, oral, and visual texts.

5. Recognize how literary devices and conventions engage the reader.

6. Recognize and appreciate that contemporary and classical literature has shaped human thought.

7. Recognize that readers and authors are influenced by individual, social, cultural, and historical contexts.